Sat, 24 Sept 16
Block 7, Wave 1 - Event Training @ Brute Strength Gym
Nick came to town on Friday after I got out of class and we headed down to Norfolk, VA to Brute Strength Gym on Saturday AM to learn how to do the caber toss and train for their Highlander competition coming up on 12 November. For some reason the trip south, which has always taken 2 hr 10 min, now takes 2 hr 30 min. I have no idea where the extra 20 min have come from besides possibly a work zone on the bypass with a reduced speed limit, but that's not nearly enough to add that much time. Regardless, we were about 20 min late, but I spread the word through proper channels. And now to sum up the whole experience in one short sentence: THROWING TREES IS AWESOME!
Caber Toss
2 x 0 x light caber - I was like horny lion humping a hollow log.
1 x light caber - Only slightly less embarrassing than failing with the lightest one.
1 x less light caber
2 x medium sized caber - I almost took out the rest of the guys outside with me on my second toss. I wonder if highland games athletes have something they yell to warn onlookers of a wayward caber. Maybe something along the lines of "Far en tha hole, ye fookin' weapons!"
4 x 1 x heavy caber - Most landing between 11:00 and 1:00.
There were failures with all cabers interspersed with my successful turns, but the misses were fewer than those I made. The heavy caber at Brute is less than the standard 170 lbs, but I'm not sure how much less. Regardless, I now need to add a caber or two to my collection of strength training equipment because this is ridiculously fun (and also much harder than it looks).
Keg Throw
2x1x15 to 14'
2x{1x15, 1x21, 1x32, 1x35, 1x34} to 14' - I smacked the bar with the 3rd keg my first time through the series and had to make an undignified exit in the crash position, but I came back to finish it and then run through the series a second time.
2x{1x15, 1x21, 1x32, 0x35} to 16' - I had the 4th keg high enough both times I missed it, but my aim was off and after two misses each time I was gassed. This was the first time I've ever done a keg toss event and it's a lot of fun, but also requires a higher level of work capacity. Looks like I need more conditioning in my life.
Braemar Stone
4 x piss pot poor puts
I have a rough idea of how to do this from experience as a shoddy shotputter, but I've never tried it with anything that heavy before (24 lbs) and we didn't measure distances because we were pretty beat by this point and just wanted to get a feel for the stone we would be using in competition. All I know is that my first try was my best one and it was all downhill after that.
Atlas Stone Shouldering Series (tackyless)
2x{1x200, 1x225, x235, 1x245}
The weather in Norfolk was much hotter and sunnier than in Salisbury and both Nick and I were zonked by this point. Every time I took a stone from lap to shoulder it felt like my noggin was exploding. Nick was in about the same boat, but he was able to get one very solid rep shouldering the 200 lb stone. He easily has the strength to shoulder stones, he just needs to work on his timing a little more, preferably when he is not suffering the early symptoms of heat stroke.
Super big shout out and thank you to brutes Hutch and Andrew for helping us learn how to suck less on the caber as well as training kegs with us. Also big thanks as always to Stella and everyone at Brute Strength Gym who helps make it such an amazing place to train and compete.